Sathya Saran, then the Femina editor behind many of India's international beauty pageant wins, reveals why India is no longer bringing the Miss Universe and Miss World crowns home.
She knew some of the most beautiful women in India before the rest of the world did.
She helped shape their persona in the initial stages of their professional lives.
She saw them with all their gawkiness and later watched them soar.
Did you know no one had expected Sushmita Sen to win Miss India, let alone Miss Universe?
Or that Aishwarya Rai -- who was participating in the Miss World contest -- was so worried after Sushmita won Miss Universe that she made an SOS call to Sathya Saran, then the editor of Femina magazine and one of the most well-known backstage names behind the pageant? What was it that made 'the world's most beautiful woman' think the crown was slipping away?
Who did this maker of beauty queens consider 'the most perfect of them all'? And which beauty queen was the 'complete package'? Who was the most thoughtful? And who was the most focused?
These are some of the secrets that Sathya Saran reveals in The Rediff Podcast.
But that's not all the journalist and author -- she has written 12 books and recently translated Gulzar's biography, Gulzar Saab: Life, Writings & Cinema, and his book on poetry, Caged … Memories Have Names -- talks about.
She distils her life's experience as a professional and offers tips to young women who want to succeed the world of glamour and beauty.
She explains why India is no longer bringing the crown home, why beauty queens are no longer making a name for themselves in the movies.
There is, she says, an important factor that is missing and why, without that, beauty queens will not win international crowns or become talked-about stars.
A REDIFF WOMEN'S DAY SPECIAL.
Sathya Saran was in conversation with Savera R Someshwar/Rediff
Videos: Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff, Satish Bodas/Rediff
Video Presentation: Reuben NV
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